After six weeks of travel, Mildura was a welcome spot to take it easy and relax for a couple of days. We didn’t do much other than get up late, have a breakfast coffee and take in some of the obvious sights around town. We have visited this city on a number of occasions and always like it.
Much of MIldura’s settlement and the economy driven by irrigation, comes from William Chaffey, an early entrepreneur and pioneer. He built a large Queen Anne style home in 1889 on the banks of the Murray River, occupying it from 1891-1950. This outsanfding residence is now an historical museum and gallery.
Another grand building in Mildura is that of the MIldura Club. It is the oldest club in Mildura, established in 1888/1894 under early leaders like W.B. Chaffey. The impressive brick landmark building was constructed in 1918–1919 and completed/opened in 1920.
The Town Hall is also an impressive building. In front of it is the George Desailly Memorial Rotunda. This rotunda served as a central community rallying point during WW1 for concerts, recruiting rallies, fundraising events, and welcomes or farewells for service personnel. On November 11, 1918, at 9:30 PM, local bandsmen gathered there to play at the time when news of the World War I Armistice first reached Mildura.
Mildura wouldn’t be the same without the Murray River. Before the construction of a series of locks and weirs, the Murray was quite different from the controlled river of today. Locks were established along the river in the 1920s to provide a constant level for both irrigation and navigation by paddle steamers. Construction of the Mildura Lock and Weir began in 1923 and was finished four years later.
Before settlement, the Murray flowed strongly and sometimes flooded or dried up completely. Its lack of reliability caused problems for early settlers who relied on the river for transporting cargo such as wheat, wool, wine grapes and citrus to market. River traffic declined with the opening of the railway in 1903, but the river’s depth and health was still important.. In 1914, the Commonwealth, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australian governments signed an agreement to manage the river’s waters by building these locks and weirs.
There is a nice park on the island. by the Lock 11 (Mildura). I understand that there is an annual competition that recognises the best facilities on the river. It was recently won by the lock and weir at Wentworth, further downstream.
On one bend of the river in Mildura, at Apex Park, is a nice beach that is backed by a number of rugged old red gum trees. These are known to drop their limbs without warning but it was a nice shaded place to eat a sandwich on a 30C day.
A tthe edge of the city is the old Murray River Station, now owned by the local council. The buildings on this site are mostly relocated or reconstructed. However, the red-gum slab homestead (circa 1847) was the first home in the district. In the park around the homestead are a woolshed, stables and rose garden.
Roses obviously do well in this warm and dry climate. The rose garden has an excellent display, as do many places around the area that we ave noticed..
I photographed this windmill on the property on a previous visit but there have been a number of bushes planted around it that have reduced the view along the river. As a photographer, I would have liked the original garden to have stayed.
Jill is quite a fan of “Banjos’ a Tasmanian based bakery. The MIldura franchise is on the city’s central mall and was a great place for a brekkie bun and coffee in the morning. It was a real delight to sit at an outside table in the gentle breeze and cool of the mornings.
We found two places nearby that were a pleasure to visit. One was the Trentham winery on the river, a lttle past the town of Gol Gol. It is one of the many wineries around Mildura. I think the acreage of grapes grown around here has increased but seem to be much fewer citrus orchards. I think that the predominant orange tree was the Valencia (grown for its juice) but it became difficult for growers to compete with imported products.Many of the old orchads no longer exist.
In neaby Wentworth, the National Trust-classified gaol was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet (famous for Sydney’s GPO and Customs House) and built with one million bricks brought from Malmsbury in Victoria. The slate tiles were brought from Wales as ship’s ballast. It is reputedly the first Australian-designed gaol.
It was a small prison for serious offenders with 10 male and 2 female cells, massive 45-cm thick walls, lookout towers, a stretching rack, a whipping stool, stocks, and shackles that are set into a boulder in the unshaded centre of the courtyard.
Wentworth is also the place where the ‘Murray meets its Darling’. The confluence of these two rivers that drain around 30% of the continent can be seen from a viewing platform in the local park.
Nearby is Lock 10 and the weir. Sitting on some pylons were around twenty of Jill’s nemesis – pelicans. It was while being distracted by a pelican in Singapore that she fell and broke her leg.
We had a pleasant dinner on our final night in town at the Boathouse Restaurant on the river. The food was good and we were accompanied by a group of excited students who had just graduated from high school. Compliments go to the ones who spoke to us for their conversation and charming presence.
The sunset was a fitting farewell to our visit in this nice city.
